Putnam County, Illinois and lower sales taxes

Photograph taken from Illinois Route 29

Time for a diversion from my Ronald Reagan Trail series.

Between my last stop, Henry, and my next one, Princeton, is Putnam County. In terms of area, it's the smallest county in Illinois. But I've always been enchanted by its charms--the bluffs of the Illinois River and rich prairie soil presents enchanting vistas, such as this one photographed four weeks ago.

Putnam is so tiny that it shares a county fair with adjoining Marshall County, where Henry is.

But little Putnam has been making news. Mark, a Putnam village with about 500 residents, is home to Hartney Fuel Oil Company, a major Midwestern petroleum firm which the Chicago Tribune says clears $200 million in sales a year. It has a tiny office in Mark, but the bulk of its operations are in high-tax Cook County, where I live. Mark does not charge a local sales tax, so the Illinois Department of Revenue challenged Hartney's claim that Mark was to location of its home office. An attorney for the Regional Transportation Association, the Chicago area mass transit agency, called the firm's Mark home "a sham."

For now it doesn't matter. A Putnam County judge, ruled in Hartney's favor.

Good. Perhaps Cook and other Illinois counties should consider lowering its tax rates.

Then we can say tiny Mark has made its mark.

Related post:

A new era: Cook County "corruption tax" gone by 2013

Ronald Reagan Trail posts:

Henry
Chillicothe
Peoria Heights
Washington, Illinois
The town of Eureka
Eureka College's Reagan Museum
Returning to Eureka College and the 1982 address
Eureka College
Carl Sandburg
Galesburg
Wyatt Earp
Monmouth

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